Both the Penguins and Oilers stunned by unprecedented qualifying round upsets

The Penguins and Oilers are going home early after suffering unprecedented upsets in the qualifying round.

Hockey is random, and trying to predict what’s going to happen on a nightly basis is a complete waste of time. Tonight was just another example of that.

In the span of three hours, the once mighty Pittsburgh Penguins and powerhouse Edmonton Oilers had their seasons ended with a whimper as they fall at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks, the two lowest seeds in this unprecedented expanded 24-team playoff format.

Never have seen upsets like this in the NHL before. Sure, the best teams in the NHL have fallen in the first round, but never before have both 12th seeds in a conference qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs

At the time of the season pause on March 12th, the Penguins were comfortably in the playoffs at third in the Metropolitan with 86 points. However they missed out on being a top four team in the East, which would’ve clinched a spot in the first round, by three points and were forced to defend their spot against the 12th seed Canadiens.

The Canadiens were ten points back of a playoff spot at the pause, and were sellers at the trade deadline. They were exactly a .500 team, the worst team out of all 24 who qualified for the expanded playoffs, and had no business advancing past a team like the Penguins, right? Apparently not.

Carey Price turned back the clock to the his prime, and Penguins looked completely helpless to even get out of their own way, as they fell in four games capped off by a 2-0 shutout to end their season. On Sidney Crosby’s 33rd birthday no less.

Though the Penguins technically qualified for this seasons Stanley Cup Playoffs, they will not be one of the final 16 teams remaining for the first time since 2006, the longest playoff streak in the league.

The Edmonton Oilers after missing the playoff for the last two seasons finally looked like they put enough of a team around Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to finally become a threat for the Stanley Cup. They were second in the Pacific with 83 points, and looked poised to make a their first deep playoff run since drafting McDavid.

The Chicago Blackhawks were last in the Central, had missed the playoffs for the previous two seasons after winning three Stanley Cups between 2010-2015. Outside of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, the teams was still rebuilding after having their championship teams fall apart.  With their lack of depth, nobody gave them a chance to hang with the star power of the Oilers.

In reality, the situation was entirerly reversed. The Oilers made McDavid and Draisaitl do everything themselves, while the Blackhawks got production from everybody up and down the lineup to embarrass the Oilers in four games, capped off by a 3-2 win.

Both the Canadiens and Blackhawks advance to the playoffs as the eight seed and will face the top teams in their respective conference in the first round. Who knows? Maybe they’re just meant to meet in the Stanley Cup Final in about a month and a half.

Meanwhile, the Penguins and Oilers join the New York Rangers, Winnipeg Jets, Florida Panthers, and Nashville Predators as the first teams eliminated, but there is a pretty huge consolation prize. Due to a place holder team winning phase 1 of the NHL draft lottery, each loser from the qualifying round has 12.5% chance of picking first overall. That’s right, two teams that were going to make the playoffs could be adding an elite young talent like Alexis Lafreniere.

After everything that’s this year, and what has transpired in hockey in just the last few hours, can you really count out the Penguins or Oilers getting that top pick? I’d put money on one of them getting it. It’s that kind of year where dumb, nonsensical things that have never happened before and will never happen again are going to happen. Next year, most things will go back to normal and we’ll look back on this two month stretch like a fever dream. Don’t fight it, enjoy the chaos while it lasts.